People are a little bit stingier in barber chairs and Ubers than they were just a few years ago.
The shares of adults who say they always tip their hair stylists, servers at sit-down restaurants and food delivery people have each fallen 8 percentage points since 2021, according to a Bankrate survey released Wednesday. That rate slipped 7 percentage points for taxi and ride-hail drivers over the same period.
Three years ago, the economy was reopening from the pandemic and inflation was higher than it is now, but so was concern for front-line workers.
At the time, three-quarters of consumers reported always tipping restaurant servers, but today just two-thirds do. Despite modest upticks since last year, barely more than half of people now count themselves reliable tippers of hairdressers (55%) and food delivery drivers (51%), while only 41% say the same when it comes to ordering a ride.
The survey reflects Americans’ growing ease bypassing ubiquitous tipping prompts, from coffeeshops to airport terminals in the post-Covid economy, especially as sticker prices have risen. While consumer spending has held remarkably steady, many households are feeling the squeeze from persistent inflation and tightening their belts accordingly. Some of that newfound caution may be factoring into when, where and how much people tip.
And I do not do delivery apps.
As a service person, this sounds great. You actually tip your barber more than I do.
The only thing I think you didn’t account for is fancier bars with elaborate cocktails, which tbf most people do not frequent. I’d do 15-20% for those, simply because it’s more involved service and more involved drinks.
I always tip my hair cutting person 100%. I wanted a hair cut, the hair cut cost $x, that person literally does the entire thing often with their own equipment that they paid for. The place will charge me $x because that’s what the haircut is worth to me but I know the person that actually physically cut my hair with their skills and labor won’t get $x and I think that’s bullshit.
In many other kinds of transactions someone can go “oh well the business deserves a cut of the profits because they provided the ingredients, or they stocked the inventory, or yadda yadda yadda”. But the hair cut is the one place where with my own eyes I witness the full body of labor occur and see who does it. That person deserves the value that their labor produced, not some owner sitting off in their beach house doing plenty I’m sure but one thing I’m damn sure they aren’t doing is cutting my fucking hair.
The more work i have to do the less I tip.
My comment is entirely scoped to to-go orders; I agree with everything else you say (though I haven’t used a ride share in forever).
I always tip for to-go orders in my hometown. Now my favorite places call out my name as I enter and treat me great. I’ve seen them replace the pizza stacked with my order with a fresh pizza right out of the oven, for example, or they’ve given me an extra pizza or side.
When I’m on the road, I still tip $1 for to-go orders because I know the workers are still getting a shit wage.
Granted, I’m in a financial position where I can afford to do this. But I’d love if we could get rid of the whole tipped-minimum-wage thing and just raise minimum wages across the board/enact UBI to make tipping only for exemplary service.
It’s a genuinely nice thing you’re trying to do, so on the one hand, I don’t want to discourage it, but on the other hand, every tip workers get is an incentive to not raise wages. Hell, if they make enough in tips, they’ll start actively lowering wages for new hires. Someone I know always likes to tip, but I just see management thanking them for covering their labor costs for them.
I’m mostly with you. To-go gets $1-$2.
Stop that.
Nope.
Basically, tip based on effort. Or you will end up with people who do not put in effort. It’s true they don’t tip in Europe. But it’s much harder to get the attention of a waiter there. “Oh I’m sorry, am I interrupting your coordinated smoke break with all the other waiters? I just wanted to exchange money for food if that’s ok with you.”
Bullshit, I get good service, even in Germany. People take their jobs seriously if they get paid enough. We just round up to a sensible sum and that’s it. Fuck shelling out 20% for a tip, that’s just straight up dumb.